


Insanity

by NiamhM101



Category: Tom and Jerry (MGM/Hanna-Barbera)
Genre: so many other characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-02 04:42:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 8,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18803932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiamhM101/pseuds/NiamhM101
Summary: The lives of the real cat and mouse duo, outside of their famous cartoon, along with all their friends.*takes place in 2006*





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so here we go with a mess of a fanfic!
> 
> This story takes place in 2006, I don’t own Tom and Jerry but I do love the cartoon and movies.

Just about everyone in the entire world knew of the famous cartoon ‘Tom and Jerry’ and anyone who didn’t was seriously missing out.

The endless adventures of a house cat who couldn’t catch a mouse was a huge, unexpected success when it started in the 1900s, and while it was true that roughly everyone knew of the cartoon characters ‘Tom and Jerry’ most didn’t know of the REAL Tom and Jerry.

As in; the cat and mouse duo who came in every day to the Warner Bros. Studio to get yelled at by a cranky director that they’re late even when it’s the opposite and act out their scenes for movies, as that’s all they really do these days anyway.

But this isn’t the best place to start, it’s better to start off with what an ideal morning is like at the mansion where Tom and Jerry live.

Also yes, of course they live in a mansion: they are millionaires what with being part of a very famous and well known cartoon.

But anyway, an ideal morning.

.........

Tom and Jerry aren’t the only ones living in this big house; there’s also Butch, the black cat who sometimes but not often appears in the cat and mouse cartoons.

And for whatever reason the author of this story is having Butch be Tom’s brother. Not many people are aware of this fact but whatever.

The other two anthropomorphic animals living under the same roof as these three would be Spike and his son Tyke. And unfortunately for everyone else who had to live in that house, Tyke was....more hyper in reality.

In fact, the one (1) thing Tom and Butch could definitely agree on was that Tyke could always be that little bit extra, taking things way too far. But no one has the power or ability to stop him whatsoever.

So an ideal morning is when Tyke decides to wake somebody up with loud screams, and unfortunately that somebody in this particular morning was Tom.

The energetic pup kicked the bedroom door open with an extremely loud yell.

“UNCLE TOOOOOOOOMMMM!”

This instantly woke up Tom, and also Jerry because the mouse refused to sleep in an actual bedroom and instead chose the walls as their mansion had a heck of a lot of mouse holes.

So yes, that was now three of the residents awake.

“Leave me alone,” Tom muttered into his pillow, not really a morning person (or a Tyke person for that matter).

“I WANT A SANDWICH!” the pup screamed.

The sound of someone hitting their head against the wall was heard from inside the wall.

Tom did not respond, and Tyke realised he’d have to do something much more drastic.

Jerry was seen being carried out of his mouse hole and downstairs by his tiny dog, Shredder. 

Shredder had featured in only two episodes of ‘Tom and Jerry’ (The Cat’s Me Ouch and Purr Chance to Dream) and once both were done the director was going to send the poor pooch to the pound.

And that’s how Butch ended up doing something good for once in his sad, dark, gothic life. He took Shredder from the director and told Jerry he now had a pet.

The director knew if he valued his life it would be best not to argue. And thankfully he didn’t.

That’s how the mouse got a pet, who turned out to be just as vicious as he acted out.

But Jerry said he’d send Shredder to attack anyone who dared to talk about getting rid of him, and not even Butch dared to do anything.

Now, back to Tyke throwing a bucket of water over Tom in an attempt to get him up.

The grey cat screamed at the feeling of water on his skin and fur.

He accepted there was no way he’d be able to get back to sleep, and started to head downstairs to get the little brat some breakfast.


	2. Chapter 2

Continuing on with the Daily Morning....

Downstairs in the kitchen, Spike was fixing up pancakes when Tom and Tyke came traipsing in.

“Good morning, Tom,” the bigger bulldog said brightly.

The cat gave a small grunt in reply. While he wasn’t an ideal morning person at least it was better than how Butch answers the phrase “good morning”.

Tyke managed to slow down that never ending hyper-ness for a few minutes so Tom could make the stupid pup the stupid sandwich he couldn’t have waited another five minutes or so for.

“Here. And thanks for nothing, brat,” Tom muttered darkly under his breath as Tyke happily took the sandwich through to the living room.

Spike rolled his eyes. It could be worse, he thought to himself.

The grey cat sighed and sat down at the table, his head instantly landing down on the wooden surface.

Butch was the last to wake up, and he walked incredibly slowly down the stairs with a deep scowl on his face.

“I hate mornings,” he grumbled when he finally reached the kitchen.

“You always hate mornings,” Tom muttered, not raising his head.

“Shut up. I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

The grey cat scoffed. “It was a statement and not an opinion, dear sibling.”

If the author had been in a better mood then she would have allowed Butch to stick his middle finger in Tom’s face.

But nope, the black cat had to settle with an eye roll and fifty five muttered curse words.

After that, Butch got his daily cup of coffee organised and took a huge gulp of it.

Not even two seconds later he spat it out, right onto the pancakes Spike was making.

“Do you mind? You just ruined the pancakes,” the bulldog said.

“What the heck is this? This isn’t my coffee!” the black cat exclaimed.

“Of course it isn’t. I took the liberty of replacing your usual temporary caffeine jumpstart with something better; a health drink.”

Butch started to breath, heavily. “You replaced my beloved coffee.....with a blasted health drink!?”

Tom took that as the best time to escape to the living room if he wanted to live longer than the next five minutes.

Inside the living room Tyke had positioned himself in front of the TV with some kind of kids movie on that was not at all interesting to any of the residents older than 6 years old in the house.

On one end of the other couch that was positioned away from the TV, Shredder chewed on a bone and Jerry ate a piece of cheese.

Tom sat down on the other end of this couch. “So, I think we need to go grocery shopping soon.”

His mouse friend sighed. “Butch and Spike food fighting?”

“My brother hasn’t had his usual coffee this morning.”

“Oh, this won’t end well. Especially since we have to go to work today.”

“Ah yes, two seconds of being yelled at and Butch will have the director thrown out the window.”

Jerry grinned. “Wanna bet?”

Tom smirked and nodded. “I win, you have to babysit Tyke.”

The mouse deemed it fair, considering his offer. “If I win, Shredder gives you a free haircut.”

Ooh there was a lot at stake for Tom, but he oh so badly wanted to see their demanding boss get thrown from the studio window.

Even if it ran the risk of getting all his fur bitten off by his best friend’s dog.

“Deal,” Tom said. The two shook paws on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I added the best friend part for Tom and Jerry that wasn’t an accident, in reality they are best friends because I said so


	3. Chapter 3

When Butch and Spike had ruined all the food stored in literally all the cupboards and the fridge, and finally Butch was a bit calmer than before it was time to go.

“Come on Tyke, we’re going,” Spike said to the pup.

“Okay!” The bratty little dog raced upstairs to grab his school bag, because for whatever reason the bag was never downstairs. After school every day Tyke would run upstairs and dump it in his room then come speeding back down the stairs, knocking over anyone unfortunate enough to be in his path.

No one wanted to argue about that because arguing with a pup who has a loud scream and possibly other unnatural abilities only a cartoon actor could have would result in serious consequences.

Anyway, the only two in the house who drove daily to the studio and wherever else were Tom and Butch. As you might expect both were complete disasters on the road when they wanted to be.

Butch’s idea of a ‘shortcut’ was also known as a near death experience.

Tom would only be able to drive if he managed to beat his brother to the driver’s seat or if the black cat (on extremely rare occasions) wasn’t around.

Someone else could drive, sure, but Jerry needed a pile of books to reach the wheel (don’t even ask about the pedals) and Spike was always terrified of crashing and drove so slowly.

On this particular day Butch got the job of driving, only because Tom wasn’t up for fighting seeing as they were already going to be late if they didn’t get a shift on.

Yes, the one thing they needed to make their day better was a yelling match from the director.

It was a long stretch of silence on the way to Tyke’s school, and instead of stopping the car for the pup to get out like literally anyone else would, Butch kept going.

“Um, Butch? You just drove past the school,” Spike pointed out.

“Uh huh, I’m aware.”

“Well aren’t you gonna stop?”

Butch smirked. “Who said anything about stopping?”

Tom and Jerry exchanged a look, that clearly said ‘this won’t end well’. A trail of chaos tends to follow them wherever they go so obviously moments like these were expected.

The black cat didn’t stop the car, just opened the window and threw Tyke out along with his bag. The pup landed on the sidewalk without a scratch.

“Did you just throw Tyke out the window, while you’re still driving?” Jerry asked.

“Yep. So?”

“Checking if that was a crazy dream.”

“You wish your life was a crazy dream,” Tom muttered under his breath.”

“Shut it, Tom!” Butch yelled from the driver’s seat.

“Eavesdropping, are we sibling? That wasn’t even directed at you.”

The black cat couldn’t think of any response other than “I despise you.”

“And I don’t care,” Tom replied.

Spike chose to get between the fighting at that point just in case Butch decided to leap from his seat behind the wheel.

“Guys, if we don’t get to the studio in twenty minutes we’re going to be late.”

“Looks like we’ll be taking a shortcut then,” Butch answered.

Everyone in the car instantly fell silent.

“You’re kidding, right?” Tom and Jerry said in unison, because of course they knew full well as much as Spike did what the black cat called a shortcut.

Butch smirked. “You might want to hold on tight.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there are errors please ignore

The day in the life of a security guard at the Warner Bros. Studio could be very interesting some days, when you’re not kicking out fans trying to break in.

It was probably the best time of day when the Tom and Jerry Crew made their big dramatic show up.

Usually involving a car travelling at full speed towards the building with clear sounds of screaming coming from inside.

And of course this day wasn’t any different, the guards guessed that Butch must be the one driving again.

Inside the car, Tom and Jerry screamed at the top of their lungs and clung to each other in absolute fear.

Spike was gripping the back of the passenger seat and screaming at Butch to “SLOW DOWN BEFORE YOU KILL US ALL!”

And all of this witnessed by the highly amused security guards, watching as the car came to a complete stop just feet away from the building.

“There, I’ve stopped and none of us are dead. Happy now?” Butch asked with a smirk.

The poor cat and mouse duo in the backseats had their fur gone white with fright and Jerry made a mental note to send Shredder over to the black cat late at night.

“You nearly killed us,” Tom said, slowly unstrapping his seatbelt and opening the door. His fur was gradually returning back to its grey colour.

Butch shrugged. “I have done worse.”

Yeah, no one could really deny that claim.

But at least now the car wasn’t going at at least a thousand miles an hour (total overestimate but who cares).

Everyone was unharmed and just shaken, actually looking forward to seeing the director since it meant not having to be in a car going up and through buildings, going super fast and going the complete wrong way on some roads with the driver screaming bloody murder.

But now Butch was sulking again, and for a different reason other than he really didn’t want to be in the rat infested studio.

Well it was partly that but also because the film scenes the crew were going to record would not feature him, again.

This new film (Tom and Jerry: Fast and The Furry for anyone curious) was much like the other big ‘Tom and Jerry’ movies that were created instead of cartoons nowadays, it didn’t have Butch in it.

The last movie he featured in was ‘Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring’ and that was a nightmare for two reasons.

One; it was only a brief appearance.

Two; before shooting, he got sick. And tried to cover his face with makeup to make it less obvious which made it look like he had plastic surgery.

Tom had the best day of his life when that film was released.

Butch was snapped out of his thoughts by the director’s yelling. They had made it to where the magic happens (aka the acting and filming).

“Where have you four been!? You’re late, I tell ya! Late late late late LATE!”

Jerry looked at his watch. “We’re five minutes early.”

“NOT EARLY ENOUGH! Next time I want your butts here on time or there will be consequences!”

Butch scoffed. “There’s never actually any consequences because you’re too lazy to actually follow through.”

“Don’t start with me, I am not in the mood. Now let’s get this started and HOPEFULLY get SOMETHING done today! Tom and Jerry, get into position! Butch and Spike, go sit down over there and don’t come over unless I say so!”

With huge sighs and groans, the crew did as they were told and Butch got ready to watch the director yell at his sibling (Tom was usually the one who didn’t do his job of acting right) and miss out on yet another movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again ignore all errors


	5. Chapter 5

If Butch’s driving didn’t kill Tom and make him turn into a gothic sadist like his brother, then the director yelling at him just about all the time would.

Ugh, why couldn’t Jerry get yelled at? But noooooo his acting was “nearly flawless” as the director put it.

But Tom got told he wasn’t being emotional enough, then yelled at for being “TOO emotional” whatever that meant.

“You think there’s any chance you can make up your mind?” the cat said.

The director was obviously not used to getting cheek from his actors. “Better watch your mouth there!”

“Or what, you’re gonna get rid of me?”

“Keep talking back and you WILL be fired!”

Tom scoffed. “You actually can’t. Because the people who still watch us have gotten too used to me. So if I’m replaced we might lose the last fans we have left, therefore you have failed your job and you’ll be the one who’s getting fired.”

The entire room was in silence for a few minutes, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

And the director was definitely seething.

“Just. Get. Back. To. Work.”

Tom smirked at his success. Sometimes having a crappy director like this one had its perks if you knew just how to push their buttons.

Jerry shook his head, but he still smiled because even he could admit it was highly amusing watching the director lose an argument.

So scenes were acted out, and everything was going great. Butch hadn’t tried to kill anyone (yet) and the director had finally stopped complaining about Tom’s bad acting.

And Butch did look like he wanted to throw a brick at someone when Spike was called over for his scene, but he just groaned very very loudly and muttered threats about bringing bombs next time he was called in.

Now, the day only seemed to get any worse when the director said these words.

“Great job, you three. Now we’ll be doing scenes with Mrs Two Shoes.”

Literally everyone (that included Butch) groaned in despair at the mere mention of the (terrible) actress who plays Tom’s owner with an unseen face.

It was never an exaggeration when someone said Mrs Two Shoes couldn’t act to save her life.

Every and any scene shot with her took hours to get right because she made more mistakes than Tom when it came to acting.

“Okay, positions! Let’s try to make sure that this time we get it done quickly!” the director ordered.

“That isn’t possible with this lady,” Tom muttered to his co star, who laughed silently.

The cat and mouse took their positions, standing in the middle of the house they had destroyed with their chasing.

Mrs Two Shoes opened the front door to find the house a mess.

“Thomas, what have you done?” she said without any hint of anger in her voice.

“CUT!” the director screamed. “Mrs Two Shoes, let’s try this again but this time try to sound more angry. You’re coming home to find your house absolutely destroyed! Let us SEE that absolute RAGE!”

Tom and Jerry glanced at each other as if to say ‘I don’t want to be here anymore because our boss may be on drugs’.

“Okay, got it,” Mrs Two Shoes said enthusiastically.

Butch could be heard muttering “I highly doubt that.”

The actress went back into her position and the scene was tried again.

This time she kicked the door in and smacked Tom right in the face.

“THOMAS!” Mrs Two Shoes screamed in a voice that wasn’t human. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?”

Even Butch was almost afraid of her. Almost. It would take much more to scare him but this certainly was a shock.

“CUT! That’s TOO much anger, Mrs Two Shoes! You’re surprised and THEN angry when you come into the house, okay?” the director exclaimed.

“Be more surprised, got it.”

Once again Butch muttered that he highly doubted that.

And once again the scene was done, this time the door was opened more calmly.

Mrs Two Shoes saw the mess of the house, and gasped.

Several minutes later she was still gasping and hadn’t stopped for air once.

“That’s it, I’m leaving,” Butch announced, getting up and walking away.

“CUT! Butch if you leave right now you’ll be fired!”

The black cat huffed. “Like that scares me!”

Tom and Jerry exchanged a glance, shrugged then decided screw it.

And Spike just left because everyone else was.

The director sighed. This was definitely not his day.


	6. Chapter 6

As per usual, Butch was unhappy. This time it was because he had to go to a hospital appointment which he really, really didn’t want to go to.

“I hate hospitals,” he had said on the drive over, sitting in the backseat and sulking.

Tom was driving with Jerry next to him in the passenger seat. Spike had decided to stay at home with Tyke after helping to get the black cat out of the house with a torture session involving Shredder, bombs and chocolate.

Shredder was the reason Butch currently had no fur on his tail, but poor Tom had no fur on at all. 

Yep, he had lost the bet to Jerry. Only his head came out with fur on and to cover his freezing body he opted for a large brown coat even if it was sunny outside.

The paparazzi would have a field day with this, and that thought alone made Butch a little bit better.

But still the thought of hospitals.....

“I hate you, so very very much,” he said to Jerry.

The mouse scoffed. “Not surprising.”

“Did you have to remind my brother that I have a hospital appointment?” Butch whined.

“You haven’t been in 20 years,” Tom pointed out.

“Bah, if I don’t want to go to the hospital I’m not going.”

“You could die before you blow up the world,” Jerry chipped in.

“......I can settle for blowing up the studio.”

The mouse sighed. “You are unbelievable, I don’t know why we let you live with us.”

“He’s family, but honestly that’s it,” Tom answered.

When the trio reached the hospital Butch nearly made a run for it but his sibling managed to lock the back doors.

“Distract me, so I don’t try to kill one of you,” he said.

“Just like our army days,” Tom muttered.

“Wait, were you two in the army?” Jerry asked, having heard that particular sentence.

The grey cat nodded as they got out of the car. “We lost a bet to some other relatives.”

“And bunked with the most annoying people I’ve ever met,” Butch said.

“Wasn’t as bad as having to run from people.”

“Do I even want to know what happened?” Jerry asked.

“Yes, because Butch started World War 3,” Tom replied.

“Rubbish, there was never a World War 3.”

“The government decided to keep things under wraps,” Butch explained. “I think mostly because an anthropomorphic cat started it.”

“So how did you start it?”

The black cat smirked. “Well it all started when I got bored one day and decided to do some research on random stuff.....”

One Freakishly Long Flashback Story Later.....

Butch approached the front desk at the hospital. “I’m here for my doctor’s appointment.”

The woman sitting behind the desk let out a sigh, as if she did not want to be at work at this particular moment. “We don’t help animals.”

“Lady, I’m an anthropomorph.”

“Good for you. Still can’t do anything.”

Butch, who didn’t even want to go to his appointment in the first place, went over to Tom and Jerry and shrugged.

“Oh well, let’s go home.”

The mouse scoffed. “Nice try. I have something that might work.”

With that, Jerry put a fake moustache on his face and asked Tom for a lift onto the desk.

As soon as the woman saw the mouse, she screamed. “Oh my gosh it’s Hitler!”

With some mild threatening Butch was able to get in for his appointment.

“I will kill you,” he said to Jerry.

“Drop it, Butch!” the mouse responded.

“You know it’s bad to threaten one of the landlords of the house you live in, whose dog did some damage to your tail,” Tom pointed out.

“Shut up, sibling.”

The grey cat laughed. “No threats for me, that means you know it’s true.”

This claim was neither confirmed or denied.


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the house it was a mostly calm demeanour. Spike was enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasted, glad that no Butch was around to ruin the mood.

Shredder was sulking near the front door, desperate for his owner to return home.

Tyke was upstairs either eating or playing video games with his best friend Tuffy, Jerry’s nephew.

Either way, no one had come down to say something had caught fire.

Oh, how Spike had forgotten the times before ‘Tom and Jerry’. Before he had moved in to a madhouse.

There was always the option to move out but unfortunately Tyke was the obstacle, because he didn’t want to.

So that was that, they were staying in the house for the time being.

.............

“.....and after the French invaded Canada I had to step in with some hidden bombs I sneaked out of Germany,” Butch was saying as he, Tom and Jerry walked through the halls of the hospital.

“It worked for a while, gave us more time to ready the death ray. And then that failed and so we had to resort to using robots,” Tom added.

“Did the robots work?” Jerry asked.

The black cat paused to knock on the door of the room he was told to go to.

“I’ll be out in a moment,” a voice said from inside.

“Well, yes and no,” Butch replied to Jerry’s question.

“Yes because it caused a huge distraction so we could get away,” Tom explained.

“And no because it made things a thousand times worse,” the black cat added.

“We had to escape back home before we made any more mistakes and unfortunately someone ratted us out to the authorities.”

“That ‘someone’ was you, sibling.” Butch glared.

Tom glared right back. “Well I was told we’d get away with it if we complied and it worked, didn’t it!?”

The black cat was about to say something, opening his mouth and closing it again.

“Exactly. Everyone except us who participated had the event wiped from their minds because apparently the government has the ability and machinery to do that kind of thing.”

“So why didn’t your memories get erased?” Jerry said, getting between any arising arguments.

“We considered it but eventually decided against because we thought it would be a hilariously unbelievable story to tell one day,” Tom explained.

“So when did all of this happen?”

“Do you remember when me and Tom went on a vacation for a month?”

The mouse nodded.

“Well that’s when it happened.”

Jerry was silent for a moment. “Now I can see why it’s unbelievable.”

“I know, right?” Tom said.

The door to the room opened and to Butch’s absolute horror it was Droopy who walked out.

“Hello, everyone,” he said. 

“Oh no, I’m out of here. I may sit on the sidelines while you’re filming cartoons but I know full well what this dog has done so no way!”

Butch tried to run away only to be tripped by Jerry and tied up by Tom.

“Blast it! Let me go!”

“You know that whatever Droopy does in the studio is acting,” the mouse pointed out.

“He crashed through a building last week on a motorbike!”

“That building was in another country.”

“Also what does that have to do with anything?” Tom asked.

“It’s a reason why I shouldn’t trust him!” Butch protested.

“Okay, either you stop making a fuss and get this appointment over with, or I get Shredder to bite off more of your fur,” Jerry warned.

Butch eventually decided it would be worth the struggles of a doctor’s appointment with Droopy than to lose all his fur like his brother.


	8. Chapter 8

Droopy tied up Butch to the table so he wouldn’t be able to escape while the supposed doctor did the examination.

Tom and Jerry sat down on slightly uncomfortable chairs at the side.

“I hate this,” the black cat huffed.

“It’s one tiny checkup,” the mouse pointed out.

“Exactly, why do you have to be so stubborn?” the grey cat chipped in.

“I dislike you both with strong intensity!” Butch screamed as he struggled in the restraints.

“We don’t care,” Tom and Jerry replied in unison.

Droopy came over to the table with a large hammer. 

“No no no, what is that for!?” Butch was freaking out at the mere sight of it.

“To test your reflexes,” the dog replied.

“How can my reflexes be tested WHEN IM TIED UP!?”

And unfortunately for him, Droopy failed to provide an answer and instead hit him over the head with the hammer.

WHAM!

Tom and Jerry both flinched at the sound as Butch was knocked unconscious.

“Oh dear, it seems as if I’ve killed my patient. I guess this means I must perform CPR,” Droopy said.

So now the cat and mouse duo watched in horror as the dog literally gave mouth-to-mouth to Butch.

“I almost hope he doesn’t wake up,” Jerry muttered to his feline friend, who laughed in response and agreement.

Unfortunately for everyone in the room and in the entire building, Butch did wake up.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Butch’s scream echoed throughout the building and may have caused at least three heart attacks.

..........

Shredder leapt into Jerry’s arms the very second he entered the house.

Butch came stomping in complaining about Droopy, hospitals, WW3, his idiot brother, a million other things as he went to go get some tea.

When Spike gave Tom a questioning look he just said “don’t ask”.

The bulldog knew if he valued his life he wouldn’t ask Butch how his appointment went.

Jerry with Shredder at his heels retreated to one of the many mouse holes scattered about the house.

Butch fixed himself a cup of tea and sat down in his favourite chair, not insulting anyone for once.

Tom didn’t want to put his sibling in a bad mood so he just sat down on the couch that didn’t face the TV and played on his phone.

Spike retreated to the kitchen to make a sandwich and just decided to eat it in there.

So basically the entire house was thrown into a peaceful silence.

Well, that is until Tyke came rushing down the stairs screaming “I WANT CHILLIDOGS!”


	9. Chapter 9

Tom was feeling excited for one specific reason; his other brothers were coming over for a visit!

Butch was feeling grumpy for one specific reason; his other brothers were coming over for a visit!

If there was one thing Tom loved, it was having other members of his family over.

If there was one thing Butch hated, it was having other members of his family over.

As you can see, Tom and Butch have mixed opinions about their family visiting.

Butch saw the whole thing as a waste of time and wondered why humans did it when all he wanted to do on his day off from being yelled at by the director was sit in the house all day and drink tea.

Tom saw it as a good chance to catch up with Meathead and Lightning (their other brothers), to find out what had happened since they last saw them as Meathead couldn’t hold down a job to save his life and Lightning would get into some pretty rough alley fights (most recently with Jerry’s unbeatable cousin).

Butch saw it as the second most pointless activity in the whole world, second only to showing up for ‘Tom and Jerry’ shoots when he wasn’t even in it.

But whether or not the two cats agreed on this little reunion, it was happening and nothing could be done about it.

Spike and Tyke were out on a picnic, and even if Jerry and Shredder were still home they wouldn’t be a bother. 

“I hate family reunions,” Butch sulked, before the dreaded hour.

Tom rolled his eyes and didn’t even bother replying because he had heard this before, every single time.

Butch would probably keep having this attitude about family reunions until the world ended.

Or if he decided to end the world, whichever came first.

So Meathead and Lightning arrived eventually, and almost immediately got to being annoying (in Butch’s opinion).

“Hey, dear brothers of ours! Still acting on that little kiddies show then?” Meathead asked, and Lightning laughed.

Butch rolled his eyes. “I want you to leave already. Can this be over now?”

Tom elbowed the black cat in the side and ignored the death threats that were then muttered. “At least we got rich of that ‘little kiddies show’ while you two go through a thousand jobs a year or lose more fights to a mouse more than I lose my fur to a manic dog.”

That made Butch laugh this time as the tables weren’t just turned, they were thrown.

“Hey, I’ve managed to hold down my latest job for a good few months!” Meathead argued.

“Really? Shocking, what are you a garbage man?” Butch said sarcastically.

“No! I’m a janitor.”

The grey and black cat duo were silent for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“The last time you were a janitor you poisoned someone,” Butch said when he had calmed down. “Also, it hurts to laugh.”

“Yeah, you get used to it the more you do it. But seriously a janitor?”

Meathead crossed his arms. “Okay, that whole poisoning ordeal was one time and one person.”

“But what were you even doing in the kitchen of that restaurant in the first place?” Lightning butted in.

“Cleaning the floors!”

“Then how did rat poison find its way into a burger which was then served to an undercover police officer?” Tom asked.

“Okay, it’s not like he died!”

“No he was just hospitalised in critical condition and after that the entire place was shut down under investigation,” Butch replied.

“I was never caught!”

“But you did lose your job, just like we all thought you would,” Lightning shot back.

“Oh shut up, you-“

The conversation was interrupted by a monkey scampering over and making a fuss about a familiar tiny dog attacking its tail.

“When did you guys get a dog?” Lightning asked, trying to pull Shredder off and instantly backing up when the dog tried to bite him.

“That’s Shredder, he belongs to Jerry. And the only time he attacks someone is when something happens to his owner,” Butch replied.

“What exactly does your monkey eat, Lightning?” Tom asked.

“Why do you assume it’s mine?” the ginger cat replied.

The grey cat scoffed. “Because last time you were here you said you wanted a monkey.”

“So, brother, tell us right now if there’s a chance your monkey could have eaten our friend or I’ll drop kick him and you from the roof,” Butch threatened.

“He does eat both real and cartoon mice,” Meathead muttered.

And for whatever reason, Butch decided the best way to handle the situation would be to throw bricks at his other two siblings as a way of distraction while Tom reached through the monkey’s mouth and pulled out a hyperventilating far from sane Jerry.

“And I thought this reunion would be like all the others,” the black cat commented.


	10. Chapter 10

Later on, when Jerry had disappeared to wash and calm down because when he was mad it was just as scary as when Butch gets mad, three out of the four cat brothers decided to start something.

This something would probably lead to the house becoming a wreck.

Not that anyone cared.

It started with Tom, Meathead and Lightning not allowing Butch to sit on the couch with them.

“Make room for me you stupid fools!” the black cat exclaimed.

“You do know that ‘stupid’ and ‘fool’ mean the same thing, sibling. Stop being redundant,” Tom replied with a smirk.

“What he said,” Meathead added.

“You don’t even have the brains to know what redundant means, ignoramus.”

“Ignor-what?”

The black cat rolled his eyes. “That’s what I thought.”

“Look, just go sit in that chair,” Tom said.

The three on the couch snickered.

Butch narrowed his eyes. “Have you three planned something?”

“No, we’re just asking you to sit on the chair because there’s no room left here,” Lightning replied, somehow managing to keep a straight face.

“Rubbish, you’ve planned something!”

“You’re too paranoid,” Meathead argued, right before he collapsed into giggles and got slapped by Lightning.

Unfortunately someone else decided to sit on the chair; Spike, who had just returned with Tyke from their picnic. 

And the very moment he did, he was sent flying into the wall thanks to a spring that had been hidden inside the chair.

Butch smirked at his cowering brothers who knew they’d be dead when the bulldog came to.

“I take it that was meant for me, fellas? Well you’ll have to do better than that.”

“There’s traps set up all over the house, sibling. Better watch out,” Tom replied.

The black cat waved a paw as he headed for the kitchen. “It’s gonna take more than that to catch me.”

He fell through a trap door right after that.

Tom, Meathead and Lightning laughed at the screams and the sound of a certain cat hitting the ground of the basement.

“What was that you were saying about not falling for our traps?” Tom called down tauntingly.

“I HATE YOU ALL!” Butch screamed from below.

..........

Soon enough, the four cat brothers got into a huge fight.

An overwhelming amount of pranks and misunderstandings have led to it after Butch falling through the trap door to the basement triggered a prank war.

Along with kicks and punches and scratches there was also a lot of harrowing threats.

“I’ll crush you like bugs!”

“I’ll rip you apart!”

“I’ll tear you to pieces!”

"I'll rip out your lungs and carve out your eyes! I'll rend your flesh and burn your remains as I tear out your hearts and eat them!"

The other three siblings stared wild eyed at Butch for a few seconds.

“You are aware kids could be reading this, right?” Lightning asked.

“Yes, why?”

“Oh, no reason. Just checking.”

Lightning then punched Meathead in the face as a signal for the fight to continue.

And fight they did!

At some point Jerry decided he could afford to sleep somewhere else for the night and left the house with Shredder in tow.

Spike came to as well, and he took one look at the destroyed living room and the four cats who had ruined it with their fighting.

He then remembered the chair, and flying into the wall.

And so he got angry.

“HEY!”

The four cats instantly froze.

“WHO PUT THAT SPRING IN THE CHAIR!?”

Butch, Lightning and Meathead instantly pointed to Tom.

“I hate you three so much,” the grey cat muttered.

At the end of the day Tom had gotten beaten up by Spike, Butch was satisfied with how awesome the day had turned out and their siblings Meathead and Lightning (along with that wretched monkey) left at long last.

Well, until Thanksgiving; literally a week away after that reunion.


	11. Chapter 11

Butch’s mean attitude; something nobody deserved to have to put up with.

Tom, Jerry, Spike and Tyke were the main victims to this awful attitude and were so close to having the awful cat thrown out of the house.

But the black cat would only sneak back in and proceed to attempt to destroy the house and kill them all in a wild explosion so unfortunately the only thing that could be done was to find a safe, easy way to deal with it.

The two landlords of the house, Tom and Jerry, decided to deal with it themselves seeing as Spike was distracted with trying to get Tyke down from a tree (how it happened in the first place no one wanted to find out).

And besides, the pup had managed to either eat or destroy all the food in the house following some kind of crazy sugar induced food fight against imaginary living vegetables (long story).

The famous, well known cat and mouse duo went food shopping so no one would starve and also took the chance to bounce ideas around.

“We can’t do anything violent because I’m sure we all know he’ll kill us,” Tom pointed out, pushing a trolley round a supermarket while people stared because, oh my gosh everyone’s favourite cat and mouse are out in public, shopping.

“So what can we do that won’t send us to an early grave?” Jerry asked, perched on the part of the trolley Tom had his paws on.

The grey cat shrugged. “Do we have any fans that are inventors?”

The mouse nodded. “There is one, but they’re a super fan. Not crazy but still, you know.”

“Well it’s the only choice we have. And I say it’s better to be loved and hated.”

“You make a good point.”

The cat smiled. “Thank you.”

.........

After shopping had been done Jerry stood on a pile of books to be behind the wheel of the car and drove them out to the woods where this mysterious super fan lived.

“People who live in the woods either die from a serial killer, or they are one,” Tom commented.

“You watch too many horror movies,” Jerry replied simply.

“It’s not my fault if they’re set in the woods.”

“But it is your fault for not walking away the very second your brother puts one on,” the mouse answered.

The cat couldn’t think of an answer for a moment. “Maybe if we can change his behaviour it won’t happen anymore.”

“Good point.”

Jerry eventually stopped the car outside of a log cabin, with lights on inside.

“This is the part where we die,” Tom commented, as he followed his co star and friend to the front door.

The mouse ignored that particular comment and knocked on the door.

After a few moments of Tom biting his claws in fear, the door was opened and who stood there before them.....

.......was a tortoise, known as Jack Nobody.

“Hello, Tom and Jerry,” he said, the glee evident in his voice. “What can I do for you?”

“We have a small....problem at home, do you have anything to help with an aggressive personality?” Jerry asked.

The tortoise nodded. “Of course, I have just the thing. Come inside.”

Tom was reluctant to do such a thing until his mouse friend threatened to leave him behind all alone in the dark woods.

Jack led the two into a room at the back of the house. “This is where I keep my inventions.”

On the walls hung all kinds of different types of mysterious things that closely resembled guns but clearly weren’t.

“Try this,” Jack said, handing over one of these to Tom. “Just fire it at the person whose personalities you want to change and it should do the trick.”

“Thank you very much,” Jerry said.

Jack smiled. “My pleasure, anything to help out my heroes.”

Tom couldn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Right come on, let’s go.”

With some goodbyes the cat and mouse duo headed home, now only wondering about how to do this.


	12. Chapter 12

Spike and Tyke were for whatever reason waiting outside when Tom and Jerry arrived back home.

The pup was bouncing around the house and along the sidewalk, while the bigger bulldog sat on the step with his head in his paws.

“We have something that can help us with Butch. Why are you guys outside?” Jerry said.

“Just been waiting, I’m starving,” Spike replied. “Did you remember chillidogs for Tyke?”

Tom nodded and hauled a box out from the back of the car. Tyke instantly tore the lid off and scoffed down the entire lot, looking very happy and pleased with himself when he was done.

“Is Butch inside?” Tom asked.

“Yep,” Spike nodded.

“Perfect,” the grey cat smirked. Armed with the invention Jack Nobody had given them, he marched up to the door.

“So that’s the thing we have and Tom is going to use it to change Butch’s personality into something more pleasant,” Jerry explained to Spike.

The bulldog nodded in understanding. “This won’t end well.”

“Yeah.....”

The two shared a glance and decided to follow Tom.

Butch was sitting in the living room, with a cup of tea in his paw.

“Where were you? And what is that?” he asked Tom.

“Sorry, brother,” the grey cat replied, right before he fired it right at Butch.

The black cat had jumped out of his chair in the split second right before he was hit so when the beam did hit him he was frozen in the air for a second before crashing down to the floor.

“I really hope you didn’t kill him because our day has been bad enough and I didn’t sign up for this kind of thing,” Jerry commented.

“If he’s dead, then so is Jack Nobody,” Tom replied.

The cat and mouse and bulldog circled round Butch to see if anything happened, if his personality had changed.

He opened his eyes with a scowl and everyone let out a deep sad sigh.

But right after it changed into a genuine smile.

“Tom, Jerry! You guys are back! Thank goodness because it was starting to get chilly outside and I know how easy you two feel the cold.”

The pair exchanged glances. So far so good, it seemed.

Butch picked himself up from the floor. “Did you get any shopping done while you were out? I can help with getting the bags in.”

“That would be great, sibling,” Tom said after a moment.

The black cat nodded with a smile and headed outside to the car.

He came back inside the house after a few minutes with all the shopping bags that had been stuffed in the back of the car.

“I think we can get used to him,” Tom said.


	13. Chapter 13

Two immediate perks of a nicer Butch.

One; no more near death experience driving. Even when they were running late there were no more shortcuts.

Two; for once the director was left speechless.

Both of these had happened on this particular day. In that exact order.

On the drive to the studio they were running late and Butch listened to everyone’s warnings about not taking a ‘shortcut’ which is something he never would usually do.

Usually, he would just be like “suck it up then, losers”.

But no, this was Butch with a much nicer attitude. Someone who didn’t want to accidentally kill someone with careless driving.

And it didn’t matter if they were late, the crew decided they valued their lives more than the director’s patience and whacked up concept of time.

They also knew they’d get yelled at anyway so it never really mattered how early or late they got there.

“And WHERE have the four of you BEEN!?”

Yep, always. No matter what.

Butch stepped in and said, “We apologise, we know how valuable your time is, and we’re sorry to keep you waiting. It won’t happen again.”

The last part may or may not be a lie since it would always happen as long as they were working in the studio, but oh well.

“Yes, well.....okay. It better not happen again. Now, positions please.”

The lack of shouting as well as Butch’s sincere apology shocked everyone in the room, including the rest of the Tom and Jerry Crew.

But for whatever reason, even if this new and nicer Butch was amazing and more bearable, the rest of the crew actually found themselves missing the old one.

Because even though mean, gothic, near death experience driving, never listens to anyone Butch was hard to live with and never ever smiled he did have his sweet moments.

He threatened the paparazzi with bombs on the one and only time they made the mistake of nearly hurting Tom, likes to act like he hates Jerry’s tiny dog but really sneaks Shredder bits of food every now and then, gets Tyke breakfast every day even when he cannot be bothered and just wants him to shut up.

So sue them, because they missed that kind of Butch they were familiar with.

Later that day when the director had sent them off, Tom and Jerry went out on a walk with Butch.

The black cat kept getting distracted by literally anything that he saw, and kept randomly running off in any direction.

Unfortunately the cat and mouse duo simply did not have the time to find out what exactly Butch was doing.

Instead they were discussing how and why to turn him back to his usual grumpy selfish self.

“So....it should be easy as that?” Tom asked, holding out the invention.

“Yes, I called Jack Nobody last night just to be sure,” Jerry replied.

“Hmmm.....I don’t know if we should do this in public.”

The mouse scoffed. “You brought weapons with you on a walk in this very park the day we met.”

“Good point,” the cat muttered. “Also that was how the idea for our cartoon was found.”

“Uh huh. Just hit him with the other setting then we can go home so he can drink tea and complain.”

Tom laughed, because that’s exactly how the Butch they know and love is like.

When the black cat had eventually came back from wherever he had been, the grey cat took the chance to shoot his brother with the invention but this time with it on a different setting.

Just like before Butch had fallen to the ground, and the cat and mouse stood by his side waiting for a response.

When he opened his eyes with a smile the two screamed.

But thank goodness that was quickly replaced with his usual scowl.

“Do you know how exhausting it was having to be nice to you fools!?”

Tom rolled his eyes as his brother picked himself up off the ground. “You should be thankful we turned you back.”

“Shut it, sibling. We are going home right now and NEVER using that thing on me again and if you do I won’t hesitate to skin you alive!”

So Tom, Jerry and the old grumpy Butch everyone loved to hate headed back home.

Everything was back to the same insane ways it always had been.


	14. Chapter 14

It was a thunderous day when this particular tale took place.

For whatever reason Tom, Butch, Spike and Tyke had this in common; they hated thunder and lightning.

Jerry and Shredder were for whatever reason the only ones not affected by the weather, so spent the morning covering each and every window with the curtains and blinds.

“You know, this reminds me of the time that you all thought you were braver than me. Oh wait that was this morning,” the mouse said, greatly enjoying this.

Butch glared from where he was visibly shaking and hiding behind the couch with Tom. “I could kill you, you know.”

“You’ll have to come out then,” Jerry grinned mischievously.

The black cat would have gladly had a flash of lighting not brought light into the room briefly.

“We need a distraction. Or a plan, in case this is the end for us,” Tom said.

“Can lightning get us from in here?” Spike asked, cowering under a table with Tyke by his side because even if the pup was fearless with literally anything else, this weather was his worst fear.

Jerry suddenly got an idea. “Spike, have we ever told you about how ‘Tom and Jerry’ started?”

The bulldog peeled up slightly. 

Butch let out a sharp, high pitched yelp as thunder crashed right outside the window.

Tom burst out laughing. “That’s a great idea, better make sure you don’t get scared like that again, sibling.”

“You know if there wasn’t a storm outside I’d have you dead!” the black cat snapped back.

The grey cat laughed some more before calming down. “Okay, so it started when me and Butch here went for a walk in the park....”

........

A flashback; it’s sunny, the day is beautiful. Everyone outside is happy and smiling.

Butch is of course not one of these people.

Tom sighed from his spot beside his pouting sibling as the black cat glared at everything and everyone. “Do you have to be so negative?”

“Well excuse me for not being like you, all happy and stuff. Ugh it’s sickening.”

The grey cat rolled his eyes.

Butch stopped in his tracks and pointed over to a mouse (Jerry) sitting on the grass. “Look over there.”

Tom looked. “Okay. I see a mouse. Now what happens?”

The black cat scoffed. “I bet you to scare it.”

“And why would I participate in this!?”

“Because it’s a bet, you can’t back down from a bet.”

Tom could have strangled his sibling because of course he was right, but instead walked over to the mouse.

He had learned from Butch the scariest of facial expressions, so he tried using this one on the mouse.

Obviously it didn’t work.

Jerry was completely unaffected, but Tom had a competitive side and he wasn’t about to lose a bet to his gloating brother.

So that’s why the grey cat got out one of the weapons he had taken from Butch (mostly for the safety of himself and everyone else in the park, Butch is very unpredictable).

The mouse wasn’t dumb enough to ignore a weapon being fired at him so obviously he ran away, and Tom gave chase.

Meanwhile, two producers were trying to come up with an idea for a new cartoon.

They looked up at the right time as Jerry jumped through a small hole into a tree and Tom ran headfirst into the same tree. 

Both producers burst out laughing and before anyone knew it, a new cartoon was made.

..............

“They approached us that same day with an offer we couldn’t refuse. And I don’t know how but after a few days of filming and forming a shared hate of the director we all know and love to this day, we became friends,” Tom explained.

Butch scoffed. “Even in the story of how you two met I am in the background.”

“Of course you have a problem with this too,” Jerry muttered, and Tom laughed.

I think it’s obvious who became friends and who didn’t.


End file.
